


there were so many things that could have gone wrong

by Trekkiechick



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, I'm an awful fucking person, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Sad, no really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2015-04-23
Packaged: 2018-03-25 09:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3804742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trekkiechick/pseuds/Trekkiechick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of works where the near-death experience of one or more of Thorin's Company turns into an actual-death experience. Unless I wimp out and add a less-sad epilogue. Tags will be updated when/if I add more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	there were so many things that could have gone wrong

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Fall](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3290210) by [Hobbitfing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hobbitfing/pseuds/Hobbitfing). 



> I'm a masochist. And, incidentally, a sadist.  
> An alternate version of the confrontation with Azog in AUJ, when the company hangs off a cliff.

There was fire. There was fire and the tree that they had all been perched in was hanging by only the roots off a very high cliff and there were what felt like hundreds of orcs and wargs staring them down and Ori wasn’t sure he could take it.

He’d never actually _seen_ an orc before this journey. Of course, they’d had the brief encounter before Rivendell before, but Dori had kept Ori so firmly _in_ the house and _out_ of trouble that he’d never seen them in the wild. Nori had plenty of stories, of course - Nori always had the best stories. But those teeth and those filthy blades were much less frightening when they were just words.

And now he was slipping. There was only a second before-

Goodness. Goodness gracious. Ori was panicking. Thank the maker, he’d caught Dori’s boot on the way down, and he could breathe again.

“Good lad, Ori! Hold tight now, there’s a lad,” Dori shrilled, having yelped when Ori fell. Ori could dimly register the absolute unbridled terror in Dori’s voice, the way that he clung to the branch like- well, like their lives depended on it. Which they did. Goodness gracious.

And suddenly, all of his insides felt like they were pressing up into his throat again. Either Dori had let go or the branch had snapped but he had no idea which because they were falling falling falling

and then they weren’t. Dori had caught hold of the wizard’s staff. Ori’s heart jumped back into action.

He looked around wildly. Most of the others were looking off towards the orcs - he couldn’t really blame them. Dwalin had broken his own branch and had only his forearms hooked over the tree. Balin was across from him, dangling from a junction between branch and trunk. He couldn’t see the king or the burglar, but he could see Nori.

Goodness. Nori was absolutely _frantic_ , barely hanging on as it was but still giving his all to claw his way towards the wizard. His normally-sly eyes were wide and desperate, flicking between the wizard and the staff and Ori and the orcs and Ori and Dori-

Dori was just barely clinging on. He was giving so much of his strength towards holding onto the wizard’s staff that he was just incoherently gibbering now, face red and muscles bulging. If he tightened his grip much more his knucklebones were liable to split the skin.

Ori felt sick. He couldn’t hear anything but the rush of blood through his ears and Dori’s frenzied muttering interspersed with nonsense syllables. “There’s a good lad Ori you hold on now Ori Ori please hang on darling we’ll get out of this oh by the maker hold on Ori yes-”

Dori was one of the strongest dwarves in the Blue Mountains. He was certainly the strongest in the company. Ori had seen him slice a goblin cleanly in two back in the caves, all while wielding his heavy broadsword with only one hand. He’d beaten Dwalin at arm-wrestling, back in the burglar’s house: one hand in the warrior’s immense paw, one hand on his cup of tea, pinky up.

But the wizard’s staff had nothing to grip. The only thing keeping them from a messy death in the trees below was the slight flare at the tip of the staff, and even that was inching through Dori’s hands. Ori gave a moment’s frantic thanks that Dori had opted for leather gloves - rather than the ones Ori had knitted for almost everyone in the company at this point - which were giving him a bit more grip, but it still wasn’t enough.

Oh goodness. Goodness gracious. Ori nearly bit clear through his lip in his worry. Dori had given up words altogether and was now just bleating desperately, eyes shut tight. Nori had nearly slipped off the tree himself in his efforts to reach his brothers, mouthing oaths and pleas. Dori’s hold on the staff, for all his strength wasn’t enough, it just wasn’t enough, they were both going to die and-

It might be enough if he didn’t have to hold the weight of two.

Ori could taste blood. He closed his mouth. He didn’t want to die. But he was going to. He and Dori were both going to if Dori had to hold to the slick staff with so much weight. And the only thing keeping Ori up was Dori’s boot, the lifeline he had nearly wrapped his whole body around. There were tears streaming down into his hair and beard and he could feel himself trembling in fear.

It didn’t have to be both of them. If the choice was between one death and two-

Nori - always the cleverest, always plotting - seemed to see what Ori was going to do before he’d even done it. He _screamed_. An all out, animalistic shriek as he scrambled back into action, nearly knocking himself and poor Bifur off in his panic as he dragged himself along the trunk. The added weight was enough to tilt the tree still further and Nori froze, eyes locked on Ori. It was enough to make Dori’s grip slip down another half inch and his eyes snapped open, terrified.

Oh goodness.

‘I’m sorry,’ Ori thought desperately. ‘Please hang on, I don’t want anything to happen to either of you. Really, it’s alright.’ He gulped in air. ‘Look after each other,’ he wanted to say.

What really left his mouth was a choked sob and a high-pitched yelp as he let go of Dori’s boot and saw the tree rebound slightly, saw Nori’s open-mouthed horror and Dori’s wide eyes, heard Dori’s howl as his legs flailed, hands frozen in their tight grip and unable to let go as Ori dropped.

* * *

**OPTIONAL EPILOGUE BELOW**

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-and was  _caught._

There was something beneath him. There was something underneath his back and he had not been splattered amongst the trees below and he was  _alive._

Nori had collapsed in relief, draped over the tree. Dori still looked frightened, but he was no longer panicking. The wizard seemed to be smiling.

_Goodness gracious_ , Ori thought, and promptly fainted.

 

**Author's Note:**

> WELP  
> So, I rewatched AUJ, and reread Hobbitfing's 'The Fall' and thought - hey, what if it wasn't Nori who let go?


End file.
